Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will offer voluntary redundancy to thousands of salaried and management staff after a sharp drop in revenues caused by falling sales, a cyberattack and US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.
The company informed workers and their union on Saturday that it would open the programme, according to the BBC and the Sunday Times. The Times reported that as many as 4,000 jobs could be cut over two years, although JLR told the BBC the figure was not yet confirmed. The company, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata Motors, needs to save about £1.7bn over the next two years.
Union and Government Talks
Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, told the BBC she would meet JLR’s chief executive, PB Balaji, next week alongside business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, following a weekend of intensive talks aimed at mitigating job losses.
Around 30,000 of the company’s 44,000 employees are based in the UK, with most working at 14 plants across the West Midlands, where JLR is one of the region’s largest employers.
Impact on Manufacturing Pledges
The job cuts come as a blow to prime minister Andy Burnham, who has promised to “safeguard sovereign manufacturing” and reindustrialise Britain. Under his predecessor Keir Starmer, Labour had pledged a £1.5bn loan guarantee to JLR after the company halted production for several weeks last year in response to the cyberattack.
That attack caused a 27% drop in overall production and cost the company about £200m. It was one of several factors behind JLR posting a profit before tax of just £14m, down from £2.5bn the year before.
Market Pressures and New Model
US tariffs on imported vehicles, which Trump raised to 25% before agreeing a 10% rate for the UK, also disrupted the carmaker’s push to sell more luxury cars in America. Retail and wholesale volumes fell by about 70,000 and 90,000 respectively.
“These challenges arrived with the global automotive industry already under continued pressure from cost inflation, slower-than-expected uptake of electric vehicles, and the deterioration of market conditions in China,” Balaji said in the company’s annual report published in May.
This week, JLR launched its first electric Range Rover, priced from £154,070, in an effort to attract climate-conscious buyers of the luxury SUV.
